Mineral mining installation



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United States Patent O 3,488,094 MINERAL MINING INSTALLATION Berthold Ostrop, Selm, and Rudi Menzel, Lonen-Beckinghausen, Germany, assignors to Gewerkschaft Eisenhutte Westfalia, a hotly corporate of Germany Filed Sept. 18, 1968, Ser. No. 760,455 Claims priority, application Germany, Sept. 20, 1967,

,115 Int. Cl. E21c 27/44, 13/00 U.S. Cl. 299--34 6 Claims ABSTRACT OF TI-IE DISCLOSURE BACKGROUND TO THE INVENTION Winning of coal from a longwall face adjoining a roadway gallery has always presented diiliculties since the known coal plough guided on a longwall conveyor can only remove coal between the drive stations thereof. A portion of the longwall face adjoining the roadway gallery known as the stable-hole zone or region cannot therefore be won directly and in the past this region of the coal face has often been won by hand. Thus in a zone installation a main plough is used to win the longwall face in a known manner except for the stable-hole region. This plough is in fact a so-called sword plough, i.e. a plough with a base plate projecting beneath the longwall conveyor and guided on the goaf side of the conveyor where the drive units are disposed. Because of this base plate, the plough can be driven only between drive units and thus as mentioned above the stable-hole region has to be won Separately. In contrast, an auxiliary plough is known which could win the stable-hole region. This auxiliary plough is not a sworded plough but is guided on two guide rails so as to transmit its tilting forces thereto.

An installation combining the known main and auxiliary ploughs would involve two different guide systems leading to inevitable working troubles since, for example, the auxiliary plough can run against the guide means of the main plough or alternatively the main plough can run against the guide means of the auxiliary plough.

An object of the invention is to overcome this problem.

A further object of the invention is to provide an improved installation for winning the entire longwall face and up to the gallery.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION According to the present invention there is provided a mineral mining installation comprising:

(a) a longwall face conveyor extending alongside a longwall mineral face,

(b) means for driving said conveyor, said conveyor drive means being disposed on the side of the conveyor remote from the mineral face,

(c) a guide rail extending along the side of the conveyor adjacent said mineral face,

(d) a main mineral detaching plough disposed on the 3,488,094 Patented Jan. 6, 1970 ice mineral face side of the conveyor, the main plough being guided on the said conveyor and on said guide rail for movement along said mineral face,

(e) means for driving the main plough along the conveyor, said plough drive means being disposed on the side of the conveyor remote from the mineral face,

(f) an auxiliary mineral detaching plough disposed on the mineral face side of the conveyor guided on said guide rail,

(g) a multi-part articulated member guided on said guide rail and attached to said auxiliary plough, and

(h) means for selectively connecting an end of the articulated member remote from the auxiliary plough to said main plough to impart drive force from the main plough to the auxiliary plough as the former is moved along the mineral face whereby to win mineral up to the end of the mineral face nearest said auxiliary plough.

In an installation made in accordance with the invention the auxiliary plough does not interfere with the main plough and vice versa. The invention allows the auxiliary plough to be selectively driven by the main plough so as to work in the stable-hole zone. The two ploughs can thus Work in unison to win the entire longwall face.

The use of a continuous guide rail renders it possible to use a hewing machine in combination with the main and auxiliary ploughs. In such working the main plough can be guided by a sword plate and by the guide rail, the auxiliary plough can be guided solely on the guide rail, and the hewing machine can be guided on the upper side part of the longwall conveyor.

According to a further feature of the invention therefore the main plough is provided with a base plate extending beneath the conveyor and engaging drive elements disposed on the goaf side of the conveyor so as to additionally guide the plough, and the auxiliary plough is guided solely on said guide rail which has a width corresponding to that of an adjacent side wall of the conveyor.

In known manner the driving means for the conveyor and the main plough can be carried on a common drive frame arranged on the goat side of the conveyor. In the region of the drive frame sufficient space should be maintained between the latter and the mineral face so that the auxiliary plough does not collide with the frame and no jamming occurs due to the presence of won mineral.

According to a further feature of the invention the articulated member is formed from a series of guide parts which engage the guide rail and are interconnected by connecting parts so that the interconnected parts have a vertical and horizontal mobility and the member can withstand traction and thrust forces during use.

In a further development of the invention the means for selectively connecting end of the articulated member to the main plough is in the form of coupling means carried by said main plough. In a practical embodiment the coupling means can be a spring loaded paWl or hook engageable in an opening at the end of the articlated member. In addition, levers can be providing for removing the pawl from the opening during uncoupling of the main plough from the articulated member.

Various other aspects and features of the present invention will become apparent from consideration of a constructional embodiment thereof.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING A constructional embodiment of the invention will now be described by way of example only with reference to the accompanying drawing wherein:

FIGURE l is a view of an installation made in accordance with the invention as seen from the coal face;

FIGURE 2 is a cross sectional view of the conveyor; and

FIGURE 3 is an enlarged plan view of the main and auxiliary ploughs at the end of the longwall face adjacent the gallery.

DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENT As shown in the drawing, the installation has a main coal winning plough 1 having a base or sword plate 22 (shown in dotted outline in FIGURE 2) engaging beneath a longwall conveyor 20. In known manner, the plough 1 is guided for movement along the conveyor 20 by means of the base plate 22 which engages in guide elements 2 arranged on the goaf side of the conveyor. In addition the base plate 22 engages a narrow guide rail 21 which is secured by a spacing element 28 to the coal face side of the conveyor 20 and extends along this side of the conveyor 20. The guide rail 21 can be considered as being composed from two parts 3, 4 olfset from one another of which part 3 extends parallel to the conveyor over the major part of the length of the conveyor and the part 4 just extends over the end region of the conveyor adjacent a gallery or roadway and obliquely relative to the conveyor 20. The coal plough 1 is guided by the base plate and by the part 3 of the rail 21. An articulated chain-like member 24 has guide parts 7 engaging the rail 21 and connecting parts 8 disposed between the guide parts 7. The member 24 is selectively connectible with the coal plough 1 through a spring loaded coupling means 5, 6 carried by the latter. The connecting parts 8 are so formed that they permit a limited vertical displacement of the parts 7 and a slight horizontal displacement also. The guide parts 7 of the member 24 extend partially around the upper and lower surfaces of the part 4 of the guide rail 21 and also over a small portion of the part 3.

The articulated member 24 is able to withstand traction and thrust forces during use due to its articulated formation.

One end 11 of the member 24 is connected with an auxiliary plough 12 which is also guided on the part 4 of the rail 21. In contrast to the plough 1 the plough 12 has no base plate but is guided exclusively on the rail 21 and is moved solely by the member 24 as will now be described.

If the plough 1 is moved in known manner towards the end of the longwall face adjacent the gallery (not shown), i.e. towards the end 11 of the member 24, at a predetermined point it will couple itself to the end 13 of the member 24, the coupling means 5, 6. Thereafter, the plough 1 pushes the member 24 and thus the plough 12 connected therewith onwards towards the gallery until the latter reaches the end ofthe part 4 of the guide rail 21. Thus, the plough 12 can win coal from the stable hole region of the coal face which could not hitherto be ploughed.

For the fulllment of the invention it is an obvious prerequisite that the plough 1 is one which is driven from the goaf side of the conveyor 20 and as shown in FIGURE 3 the drive means 14, 15 for the conveyor and for the main plough are arranged in a drive frame disposed on the goaf side of the conveyor 20.

As can be seen in FIGURE 3, part 4 of the guide rail 21 extends obliquely to the conveyor 20 in order to bring the plough 12 and its guide part out of the region of the protruding parts of the machine frame and ramp frame. The major dilference between the part 4 of the guide rail 21 used for the plough 12 and the part 3 of the guide rail 21 which extends over the whole longwall face is that the part 4 must guide the plough at its upper and lower parts because, in contrast to the plough 1, the plough 12 cannot counteract tilting forces through a base plate. Thus the plough 12 is guided at the upper and lower surfaces of the part 4 of the guide rail 21. This guidance is shown in FIGURE 2, where it can be seen that the part 4 is hollow and the plough 12 has a guide nose extending over the top of the part 4 of the rail 21 and a lug 15 which extends upwardly on the inside of a vertical downward projection of the part 4.

The coupling means 5, 6 between the member 24 and the plough 1 can take various forms and in this embodiment the coupling means is in the form of a hooklike pawl 5 engageable in an opening in the end of the member 24 and secured against displacement by the force of a spring 6. Levers (not shown) can be provided in order to be able to bring the pawl 5 out of engagement with the opening against the action of the spring 6. The coupling and uncoupling of the member 24 to and from the main plough 1 can be rendered automatic, but it appears equally important to make the coupling means as simple as possible in order to avoid breakdowns. An automatic coupling and uncoupling operation would undoubtedly give rise to maintenance and breakdown problems which would lead to losses of time. This can be avoided 'by simply manually uncoupling and coupling the plough 1 and the member 24.

The complete sequence of working will now be described. The coal plough moves towards the gallery end of the conveyor 20 until it reaches the end 13 of the member 24 whereupon the pawl 5 engages the latter and the plough 1 can now continue its journey simultaneously moving the plough 12 until the latter has reached the gallery. Now in known manner the operator reverses the direction of movement of the plough 1 and the plough 1 moves back again with the plough 12 until it reaches a pre-determined point where the plough is halted and manually uncoupled from the member 24. The uncoupling preferably take-s place after slackening of the traction tension present between the plough 1 and the member 24. Although this operation is preferably effected manually as mentioned above it could also be automated.

With the installation made in accordance with the invention the stable-hole zone can be won without difculty got by ploughing and the space made free by winning is so small that the stable-hole zone does not require special supporting. Thus, the supporting elements necessary for the stable-hole zone, winning machine and the conveyor means hitherto necessary for winning the stable-hole zone now become superfluous and yet the expense involved in providing an installation according to this invention is negligible in comparison to its advantages.

We claim:

1. A mineral mining installation comprising:

(a) a longwall face conveyor extending alongside a longwall mineral face;

(b) means for driving said conveyor, the conveyor drive means being disposed on the side of the Conveyor remote from the mineral face;

(c) a guide rail extending along the side of the conveyor adjacent said mineral face;

(d) a main mineral detaching plough disposed on the mineral face side of the conveyor, the main plough being guided on said conveyor and on said guide rail for movement along said mineral face;

(e) means for driving the main plough along the conveyor, the plough driving means being disposed on the side of the conveyorremote from the mineral face;

(f) an auxiliary mineral detaching plough disposed on the mineral face side of the conveyor and guided on said guide rail;

(g) a multi-partarticulated member guided on said guide rail and attached to said auxiliary plough; and

(h) means for selectively connecting an end of the articulated member Iremote from the auxiliary plough to said main plough to impart drive force from the main plough to the auxiliary plough as the former is moved along the mineral face whereby to win mineral up to the end of the mineral face nearest said auxiliary plough.

2. An installation according to claim 1, wherein the articulated member is formed from a plurality of guide parts which engage the guide rail which parts are interconnected by connecting parts so that the interconnected parts have vertical and horizontal mobility and the member can withstand traction and thrust forces during use.

3. An installation according to claim 1, wherein the main plough has a base plate extending beneath the conveyor and engaging guide elements disposed on the side of the conveyor remote from the mineral face so as to additionally guide the plough, and the auxiliary plough is guided solely on said guide rail which has a width corresponding to that of an adjacent side wall of the conveyor.

4. An installation according to claim 1, wherein the guide rail is attached to spacing elements carried by the mineral face side of the conveyor and has a rst part extending parallel to the conveyor and a second part extending oblquely relative to the conveyor, the rst part serving to guide the main plough and the second part serving to guide the auxiliary plough.

5. An installation according to claim 1, wherein the means for selectively connecting the articulated member to said main plough is carried on said main plough.

6. An installation according to claim 5, wherein the coupling means is in the form of a spring loaded hooklike pawl which is engageable in a recess disposed at the end of the articulated member.

References Cited FOREIGN PATENTS 1,203,715 10/1965 Germany. 1,215,630 5/1966 Germany.

ERNEST R. PURSER, Primary Examiner U.S. Cl. X.R. 299-85 

